Mining industry operations include quarries, ports and other facilities. In such operations, drivers operate large mining vehicles, such as specialized ultra-class dump trucks, which are capable of carrying raw material payloads that weigh hundreds of tons. For the purpose of convenience, general reference will be made herein to vehicle or mining vehicle with the understanding that such reference includes ultra-class dump-truck type mining vehicles. In a mining operation, the operating cost of such mining vehicles is a significant consideration. Two significant items that contribute to this operating cost are the fuel consumption of the vehicle and tire wear.
Because such large mining vehicles consume tremendous amounts of fuel, it is desirable to operate each vehicle in a manner that reduces fuel consumption. Likewise, because replacement tires for such mining vehicles are expensive, it is desirable to operate each vehicle in a manner that minimizes tire wear. However, in the prior art, it has been difficult at a typical mining operation to operate the mining vehicles in a manner that reduces fuel consumption and minimizes tire wear.
For example, at a typical mining operation, many vehicles are employed to transport mined raw material to a processing area. Due to the constraints of the mining equipment, only one vehicle at a time can be loaded with raw material, which results in vehicles waiting in line to be loaded, as opposed to being constantly moving. During the unloading or dumping operation, similar constraints again result in vehicles waiting in line. To make up for time spent waiting in line, the driver or operator of a vehicle may drive each vehicle rapidly once the vehicle is loaded. Such rapid driving includes increased vehicle acceleration and increased travel speed. Increased acceleration and travel speed in turn undesirably increase fuel cost and tire wear.
It is therefore desirable to provide a sensor-based monitoring and control system for mining vehicles that enables the drivers of such vehicles to optimize vehicle operating conditions based on real-time conditions to desirably reduce fuel cost and tire wear.